Oil and gas: Contract staff still in demand

Published 3:09 pm, Friday, September 25, 2015

The energy industry - particularly the oil and gas field - looks to find innovative ways to lock in demand and thrive during the current economic climate.

Some companies are looking to contract workers to take on greater roles, leading to promising employment prospects for these employees in the energy industry.

"We are seeing demand (for contracted workers) in all disciplines of the energy industry in the United States, both in the office and field. Demand is especially strong along the Gulf Coast," said Thomas Anderson, president of Lutech Resources, a company that provides recruitment and integrated resource management for energy sector companies worldwide.

"The companies Lutech is working with are moving forward with their expansion or maintenance plans despite the downturn in crude prices. The result of these companies moving forward is a continued strong demand for quality contract workers from within and outside the region."

Engineer positions

While energy companies certainly see a need for a range of contracted position, some of the most highly sought-after positions are those of engineers.

"We are seeing a higher demand for reservoir engineers and, to a lesser extent, operations engineers. The reasons why are as follows: reservoir engineers are needed for reserves reporting and valuations for A&D (acquisitions and divestitures) work, which is gradually picking up and expect will gather more steam as loans are reset in the not too distant future.

"Operations engineers because a good operations engineer can reduce operating costs," said Gladney Darroh, president of Piper-Morgan, a firm that focuses on staffing for professional and technical candidates for direct hire and contract hire for the energy market.

In fact, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), employment of petroleum engineers - which includes reservoir and operations engineers in the oil and gas industry - is projected to grow 26 percent from 2012 to 2022, much faster than the average for all occupations.

The price of oil is a major determinant of employment growth, with the expectation that, the lower the price of oil, the less demand for workers there is; however, even with the recent drops in oil prices, there is still, unquestionably, a demand for experienced, top talent.

Business goes on

"Companies still have businesses to run and products to refine and ship. In a downturn, companies understand the need to be more innovative to compete, and a big part of that is attracting the best of the best from a talent perspective," said Keith Wolf, managing director of Murray Resources, a Houston-based staffing firm serving a range of industries. There's a lot of legwork that goes into finding great talent. We work with our client agencies to help them understand that it's still a competitive talent market and top talent always has choices.

"We help build a profile of the position and the company that will effectively attract that talent."